Monday, February 3, 2014

I'm not a huge fan of growing Basil from seed - you've probably figured out by now that I'm into EASY!- so I took cuttings from my three favorite Basil plants before the frost in fall, rooted them in glasses of water, then planted them and have kept them in my window all winter, waiting to be planted in the Spring. They have done very well and even grown quite a bit, I keep them trimmed since I want them to just focus on developing a strong root system for next year.

Part of my winter gardening goes on in my south facing kitchen and family room windows which I have built shelves into. Above is a picture of my Cayenne Pepper plant which is still blooming and growing peppers as it has been all winter. A couple of weeks ago I harvested about 40 peppers from it and trimmed it down to help it focus on a small area for the rest of the winter. I transplanted this from the ground in the fall and will plant it back outside in the spring. I did the same thing last winter and it's still producing tons of peppers for me!

Upcoming Classes and Events

Mapleton Ready is providing a free winter gardening class by Caleb Warnock, author of Backyard Winter Gardening. It will cover among other things: hot beds, the best winter varieties to grow, and hoop houses.

How to Become a Member

If you would like to become a member of the Utah Seed Exchange you will need to:

1. Commit to learning and actively saving seeds, at least one new variety a year. You must test your seeds for purity by growing a few and matching them to the parent plant before you share them with anyone.

2. Become familiar with the concepts of seed saving. Please catch up with the information and classes that have been taught. They are listed under the 'Pages' section on the right. Go through the pages and read and watch the information.

3. You will need to own and reference 'Seed to Seed' by Suzanne Ashworth (amazon.com) and it is recommended that you own and read 'The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency used by the Mormon Pioneer' by Caleb Warnock which is a great book on seed saving in Utah.

When you have done these things, email me your request for membership at utahseedexchange@gmail.com and let me know that you have completed the requirements.